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When I was a child, we were taught that it was not polite to stare at someone. As kids, we developed a saying to handle such incidents. You probably said it, too.
We would look at the person who was staring at us and say, "Why don't you take a picture. It lasts longer!"
That usually did the trick, and the staring dissipated.
Today, everyone who owns a smartphone or digital camera takes photos of everything from the food they are eating to their pets in various costumes. The sky's the limit for online posting of such photos.
As a longtime news reporter, I would take hundreds of photos throughout my career. For most of my 40-plus years in the business, there was no such thing as digital photography or cellphones. We used our own 35mm cameras.
My two Canon cameras now collect dust in a drawer of my home office desk. They were my constant companions for a long time and now are as obsolete as Blockbuster video stores.
Then when digital cameras entered the newsroom, a new era of photography began. I used to cringe when school students would come into the newsroom to take a tour and often ask what was behind the door marked "Darkroom." They had no clue what went on in that tiny space.
I spent a lot of time in that darkroom which was outfitted with red lights, enlargers and the magic potions we would mix together in order to develop the film. In the midst of a sometimes hectic, noisy newsroom, the darkroom was a quiet place with its share of anxious anticipation.
Art Limann, a seasoned news photographer, taught me the ins and outs of taking photos. That included rolling film onto metal rolls in the dark in preparation for dropping the film into metal canisters of the developer. It was not an easy task, especially on a sharp deadline with a city editor breathing down your neck.
Oftentimes we would print wet film in order to slap a black and white print on the boss' desk for his or her approval for a breaking news story. Deadlines were pretty sacred and remain such in all the news industry.
An entire new department was created with the advent of color photography for newspapers. That was a specialized area with photographer Andy Lloyd leading the way for the other photojournalists. Even that is obsolete in today's print news.
It's true, however, what they say about a picture being worth a thousand words. And there was no one in the newsroom who proved that more than photographer Scott McCloskey. His photos were award winning for so many reasons, but mostly because he cared enough to get just the right shot each time.
Maybe you aren't Art or Andy or Scott, but I bet you can take pictures with the best of them with all the technology now at hand. When words fail you, just snap that photo and watch what happens. I'll bet you will make someone smile.
Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.